Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are becoming
more prevalent in the pediatric population, and being aware of the different
diagnoses and treatment options can help parents get the support they need. This
week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which is an international
event to help fight the myths that surround eating disorders. Here are a few tips to help educate families on three common
eating disorders.

ARFID: Avoidant
Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is more serious than picky eating. It
is an eating and feeding disorder characterized by a child not eating enough
calories to grow. The food a child consumes
is based on sensory choices
(appearance, taste, texture, smell or presentation). Other common symptoms to look for include:

Spending an extensive amount of time to eat (at both home and
school)

Feeling too tired to eat, fatigue and feeling cold

Complaints of constipation, stomach pain and ‘feeling full’
around mealtime

Having a general lack of interest in food or family/school mealtime

Refusing to eat certain textures of food

Chronic fear of gagging, choking and/or vomiting

Often calling in sick to school due to a weak immune system

Expert Tip: Feeding
products like the Happy Mat
can help children with ARFID become more adventurous eaters since the visual presentation
of food looks fun!

Anorexia: Anorexia nervosa in children is characterized by poor weight
gain or difficulties maintaining an age-appropriate body weight. In addition,
many children and teens have developed a distorted body image due to negative
comments from adults about their lack of eating or being bullied at school. A
few additional characteristics of anorexia are:

Expert Tip: Teaching parents and therapists to use caring
language and encouraging
expressions can help children and teens overcome and heal from anorexia. For
more tips and feeding therapy techniques, check our book Making
Mealtime ezpz.

Bulimia: Children and teenagers that binge eat
(eat to excess) and then force themselves to throw up in order to gain
attention or prevent weight gain. Children diagnosed with bulimia are generally
at normal weight (instead of under weight with anorexia). Some other signs to
look for are:

Photo Credit: Paul Joyner Photo

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Dawn Winkelmann, M.S, CCC-SLP

Speech Language Pathologist & Feeding Specialist for ezpz

Dawn Winkelmann, a.k.a “Ms. Dawn”, has treated thousands of kids across the globe by helping families overcome picky eating stages and food refusals, while adding new foods into their diet. Her high success rate is attributed to Ms. Dawn bringing her education, experience, sense of humor and her favorite feeding products to the family dinner table.

You will find Ms. Dawn’s expert feeding advice to be positive and fun for the entire family! She adapts complicated feeding/swallowing research and makes it practical and easy for parents! Get ready to learn the science behind your favorite feeding products and ways to bring happy family mealtimes back!